Albany State women’s basketball team advances to SIAC finals

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It was another come from behind victory for the Albany State Lady Rams as they defeated Kentucky State 79-64 Saturday to earn a spot in the SIAC tournament championship game today against Benedict.

Kentucky State held an eight-point lead throughout the first half until a 3-pointer from Keidra Green followed by a jumper from Jillian Anderson to cut the lead to two with 1:49 left. ASU went into the halftime break down just three points, which head coach Robert Skinner said was huge for his team.

“That was a real big momentum swing to get the game to within three right before halftime,” he said. “I still felt like we weren’t playing the way we’re capable of playing, and so having it down that close in the halftime, I knew we were in range to be able to beat them.”

Another Green 3-pointer tied the game at 49 with 14:21 to play in the second half and from there, the Lady Rams were rolling, taking a five-point lead with 8:12 left and then stretching it to 10 with 4:39 remaining.

Skinner said his team was in sync in the second half, particularly on defense. They held Kentucky State to just 20 percent shooting in the second half, compared to 54 in the first. Lock-down defense plus pushing the tempo worked well for the Lady Rams in the second half.

“The number one thing was we continued to run the ball up and down the floor,” Skinner said. “We were able to convert fast-break points against them several times. Another thing was we were able to press them. Defensively, our press kinda slowed them down and they were able to shoot as well as they did in the first half.

“Another thing was our post players got on the boards in the second half, they really got on the defensive boards and shut down the second and third shots.”

Albany State will take on a Benedict team they’ve seen twice this season. The two teams split during the regular season.

Skinner said the main focus for his team is rest. The championship game comes less than 24 hours after their semifinal game and he said he was stressing to his team the importance of getting as much rest as possible.

On the court, he said it’s just a matter of them showing up and everyone doing their job.

“We know Benedict is long and tall, we know what they’re gonna do defensively, we know what offensive goals are, we just gotta come ready to play and we’ve got to play with a lot of confidence,” he said.

Tip-off is scheduled for today at 10 a.m. this morning.